Some players will be paid, and the hot prospects will obviously command more money, but for most the opportunity to possibly be signed pro will be the carrot, no different than the old colts days and Amateur clubs under 18’s hoping to get spotted and a trial or run of games in the A team.

If your boss stopped paying you whilst he took a big salary and paid himself an annual.dividend whilst telling young kids hes no.money to pay them you wouldnt find that disgusting? Sorry i do.

Weve lost players because they cant live on nothing whilst being ask.to commit to the times they have to.commit to. On video session day the acafemy are at Kirkstall for 6 or 7 hours, quite a few have to travel from Saddleworth and Leeds cant afford to pay them. Come on. Its a scandal.

I know that the game is struggling and Leeds have suffered greatly through the pandemic however whatever the financial state of the club we should be covering travel expenses as a minimum for our acadamy players. Alternatively change the rules and you can only join a local club on an acadamy basis.I know its chicken and egg in that you need the top players to srive gates and investment in the clubs.However development of your own talent is financially beneficial to all clubs.Also if we dont look after the potential future stars they will walk away and the talent pool will continue to shrink and standards drop even further

Apparently, Gale left on good terms with the club, and the guarantee of being first choice in a world cup year, and the offer of a coaching role after he retires were the reasons he wanted to move.

I'd say if he couldn't perform at a level that makes him first choice at leeds then it's debatable whether he's of the standard needed for England.

How many games did McLelland play last year - are you suggesting we have an international standard half back on big money as cover for potentially 5/6 games?

If Jack Walker gets back fit (and that is a big "if"icon_wink.gif, for me he gets the #1 shirt ahead of Myler. Myler has a terrible kicking game but he can pass and defend OK in the halves. As a back-up option to another half who CAN kick (i.e. Sezer), it's not a terrible option.

Our issues will come if Sezer gets injured because I'm not sure where else our kicking game will come from. But this is the issue: genuine halves with excellent kicking games are rare, which is probably why none of them would be too keen to "fight for their place" in a SL side.

Maybe we would have retained McLelland with a better/more serious offer if we knew Gale was leaving beforehand. Who knows. I am sure that Gale leaving is the right thing if his heart isn't really in it at Leeds.

Agree, doubt he will play more than 50% of games

Myler is ahead of Walker. Proven to be a better player at 1.

Myler; reliable durable, good passer, reads a game well, decent defender.

Walker; very Injury prone, no kicking game, no passing game, poor decision maker, average defender, lacks genuine pace, but good evasive runner. Thats all he really offers, and some fans latch on to the flashy stepping runs and ignore his clear deficiencies.

On balance Myler is first choice and his form at Fullback for last 2 Years (Lance todd winner) backs that up. Walker needs 10-12 games on loan to get back up to speed and prove he is durable enough and can stay injury free.

Disagree mate, Walker was looking very sharp before his injury issues over the last 2 years.

Myler has been good at FB, certainly in relation to his contribution as scrum half.

I'm not sure whether either player is our long-term hope to be honest, for different reasons. We will find out this season.

Walker with his longterm injury is at least 1 year behind in his Development .it will take some time to recover .it will. Be interesting to see how he does this year .Myler is ooc next season I can see him getting another 2 years

I reckon myler will get that 2 years but it might not be with us.
The point about walker's development is valid. He wasn't a top4 standard FB before his latest injury, nor will he be on his return. Question is, how long can a club with serious title aspirations afford to run with so many question marks over such a key position?
It won't be long; all the purring over potential will sharp turn to howls should expectation fall flat. And as ever it'll be the spine players in the firing line

FWIW from a Saints fan:

Your halfs will be better next year but for me your pack was easily rolled over last year by Walmsley alone. Matt Prior seems to be a favorite of yours but i thought he was blowing out of his after 10 mins, could not get back?

Your Pack needs to be a lot better next year if your going to get better.

To be fair Walmsley rolls most packs on his own when he's on form and his team mates lay the platform with early carries.

Prior wasn't in good form at the end of last year by his standards for various reasons. Tet hadn't built any consistency. Mik was coming back from an injury, probably too early. And Tom is 20 years old. Not a big surprise we lacked firepower.

Will it be different this year? Who knows but I would have liked us to have signed another big powerhouse prop. Much depends on the pre-season this year and the gains that Smith, Holroyd, Gannon, Oledski can make in particular.

Worth remembering that the Leeds pack matched if not overcame the Saints one in the cup game earlier in the season. The problem then was we didn't have the half backs or backs in place to take advantage. I think most would agree the pack by the end of the season was too tired/not fit to compete properly. Lessons for sure learned there in not burning out people like Prior.

I know we need to pace him but 2022 could be another huge one for Morgan Gannon. In a couple of years time him and Bentley could be the England back row.

Wouldn't argue with that but neither would I say a repeat is nailed on. Given we had players missing, playing injured and/or unable to train I'd be hopeful of better next time.bwe were shown up pretty badly in those last two games where we faced you though, granted

Is Bentley honestly that good? I haven't actually seen enough of him to form a solid view.

We have a fair few candidates for current or future England international spots, which is a great position to be in given where we have been.

In fairness we did have about 12 forwards playing in that game. You would expect us to hold our own down the middle.

Lol

Not surprised he's gone we move on it was nailed on he was leaving just a matter of when & who to.

Walker is better at kick returns, is a better defender and safer at dealing the with kicks. Myler, who has performed admirably as a stand in full back, brings the traditional half back skills to the full back roll; coming into the line and passing. Do need this if we have 2 performing half backs and hooker?

Of course, if Walker gets injured again this is all irrevalant. But let’s not just write off a player who 3 years ago was talked about at the next England / GB full back.

I think that's a fair assessment, although I think Myler was pretty safe under the high ball too.

I think the most significant thing with Myler is that he linked up well with Gale. They both preferred to attack down that left edge, which was the main side we'd try a set play down. I think with Gale gone, Walker actually has a better chance of learning to play off Sezer and Austin. We need to switch the focus of our attack now to the right hand side with Newman and Fus (if they play there). I'd like Handley to start coming insde a bit more as floating winger, the way Chris Ashton used to play for England RU. I think he'll have limited opportunities outside Sutcliffe in comparison.

Think Myler has done a great job as a makeshift full back but I honestly don't the club should renew his contract at the end of 22. Full back is a hugely important spine position and looking at it objectively I'd say he is a clear second best to Tomkins, Welsby, French, Hardaker, Connor, Evalds and Coote for starters. I'm hoping young Walker and get in the side and force his way up that list, but if he can't we need to recruit a top full back. That's the only way we'll eventually close the gap on the very best.

Myler’s really brave and seems a good bloke. Very skilful too.

I probably wouldn’t renew him next year either. Had a good stint with Leeds but might be time to call it.

Put it this way: which of our direct competitors would sign him off us?

Why not see how Myler does this year before deciding? Hes been excellent at 1 pretty poor in halves but i see no reason to let him go.